Technology360

Weekend readings for #pubmedia, Feb. 24, 2018

Here’s another collection (a bit slimmer than usual for some reason) of selected links from my @haarsager Twitter feed.  --Dennis

ATSC 3.0/HbbTV

• HPA panel examines road to ATSC 3.0 and repack.  TVTechnology

Cable/Satellite/MVPD/Cord-Cutting

• How did satellite TV go from a $50B business to ‘less than zero’ in three short years?  FierceCable  …and…  Dish loses 200K more linear TV subscribers in Q4; value of satellite business ‘less than zero,’ analyst postulates.  FierceCable

Digital Video/OTT/VOD

• Buoyant SVOD boosts U.S. TV market to be worth $140B by end of 2018.  Rapid TV News
• TV Everywhere use encouraging SVOD adoption?  nScreenMedia

Journalism

• KPCC, WAMU and WNYC help revive local news websites in L.A., D.C. and N.Y.  Radio and Internet News

Radio/Podcasting/Digital Audio

• KPCC, WAMU and WNYC help revive local news websites in L.A., D.C. and N.Y.  Radio and Internet News
• Why radio should eat the elephant (one bite at a time).  Jacobs Media Strategies
• RadioPublic calculator shows the pros and cons of today’s podcast advertising.  Radio and Internet News
• HD Radio penetration nears 50% in new car sales.  Radio Magazine

Weekend reading for #pubmedia, Aug. 5, 2017

For when you’re done mowing the lawn, here are some selected links posted to my @haarsager Twitter feed this past week.  --Dennis

ATSC 3.0/HbbTV

• Sinclair and Nexstar take a big step toward the next generation of TV.  FierceCable

Broadband/Wireless

• Echoing Microsoft, House coalition asks FCC for three TV white space channels to target rural broadband.  Telecompetitor
• Wi-Fi Miracast gets new features to support immersive HD, 4K Ultra HD.  FierceWireless
• Gigabit LTE gains velocity as more carriers, OEMs announce support.  FierceWireless

Cable/Pay-TV/Satellite

• Q2 bloodiest quarter on record for U.S. pay-TV.  Rapid TV News  …and…  Linear pay TV lost 941k subscribers in Q2, worst quarter ever.  FierceCable
• must read  vMVPD profitability questioned from all sides.  FierceCable
• Hulu users emerge as SVOD community most likely to drop legacy pay-TV.  Rapid TV News
• Amazon is poised to nose its way into the pay-TV business.  Video Nuze

Consumer Electronics

• TV sets are starting to disappear from American homes.  recode

Digital Video/OTT

• vMVPD profitability questioned from all sides.  FierceCable
• OTT devices surpass desktop for top digital ad platform in Q1 2017.  Rapid TV News
• must read  FreeWheel: OTT devices are ascendant, but challenges remain.  Video Nuze  …and… Link to report.  FreeWheel
• Amazon is poised to nose its way into the pay-TV business.  Video Nuze

Radio/Podcasting/Digital Audio

• First impressions and HD Radio.  DickTaylorBlog

Social Media

• TV news – via Snapchat? Here are some ways broadcast news is trying to stay afloat.  Los Angeles Times

Strategy/Management

• The digital native is a myth.  Nature
• PBS chief details states of federal budget fight: “There isn’t a Plan B.”  Hollywood Reporter

Television

• must read  Millennials unearth an amazing hack to get free TV: the antenna.  Wall Street Journal

Weekend readings for #pubmedia, Feb. 26, 2016

Yes, here’s another week of selected links from my @haarsager Twitter feed.  --Dennis

ATSC 3.0/HbbTV

• FCC proposes rules for 3.0 adoption.  TVNewsCheck  …and…  FCC greenlights ATSC 3.0.  TVTechnology
• HPA 2017: ATSC 3.0 Update.  TVTechnology
• FCC OK’s WatchTV ATSC 3.0 distributed transmission system experiment.  TVTechnology
• NAB to FCC: Don’t be pushed into micromanaging ATSC 3.0.  Multichannel News

Cable/MVPD/Cord-Cutting

• Study: Millennial men are cutting the cord in droves.  Media Life Magazine
• must read  Charlie Ergen: OTT is now a direct replacement for cable and satellite.  FierceCable

Consumer Electronics

• Google might soon offer a 4K wireless set-top box for TVs.  Inc.
• Digital Video/OTT
• BBC iPlayer makes record-breaking start to 2017 as personalization begins.  Rapid TV News

Radio/Digital Audio/Podcasting

• Dashboard “mayhem” and radio.  Jacobs Media Strategies
• The premature death of HD Radio.  Mark Ramsey Media

Spectrum/Incentive Auction/Repack

• Post-incentive auction procedures workshop announced.  FCC
• TV broadcasters get another shot at leveraging channels into cash.  Current

Strategy/Management/Business

• TV is changing, but not fast enough.  Walt Mossberg in The Verge  …and…  What’s stopping the TV revolution?  The Verge
• must read  Mobile’s growing importance to TV’s future.  TVNewsCheck  …and…  Research: 67% of U.S. consumers watch mobile video daily.  VideoNuze

Wireless/Broadband

• With 65 MHz of fallow licenses, AT&T sees spectrum position as ‘key differentiator vs. peers’.  FierceWireless

Weekend readings for #pubmedia, Jan. 8, 2017

Here’s this week’s collection of selected links from my @haarsager Twitter feed.  Happy New Year, all!   --Dennis

ATSC 3.0/HbbTV

• LG unveils ATSC 3.0-enabled 4K television receivers at CES.  Rapid TV News  …and…  TVTechnology
• Sinclair CEO: ATSC 3.0 is going to ‘supercharge’ the broadcast business.  FierceCable
• ATSC 3.0 good to go by Spring.  Broadcasting & Cable

Cable/Pay-TV/MVPD/Cord-Cutting

• The 2016 cord-cutter awards.  TechHive

Consumer Electronics

• LG unveils ATSC 3.0-enabled 4K television receivers at CES.  Rapid TV News  …and…  TVTechnology
• Mohu AirWave turns broadcast TV into a streaming service.  Mashable
• 4K sales outpacing HDTVs.  TVTechnology

Digital Video/VOD

• Netflix “bears” have it all wrong.  Rapid TV News
• Top trends in digital video for 2017.  nScreenMedia (podcast)
• Live TV decline slows in Q3; SVOD up.  Rapid TV News

Journalism

• must read  Our Murrow moment.   Daily Beast

Radio/Podcasting/Digital Audio

• Twelve years of Techsurvey: How radio listening has changed with new technologies.  Jacobs Media Strategies (webinar recording)
• The biggest problem with podcasting is…  Mark Ramsey in LinkedIn
• HD Radio at CES.  Radio Magazine
• must read  Why Facebook Live Audio is just the beginning of its bid for audio domination.  Media Briefing
• Just how dangerous is Alexa?  Shelly Palmer

Social Media

• must read  How to reestablish the primacy of news brands on social.  Media Briefing
• Five reasons why engagement is so hot right now.  Media Briefing

Spectrum/Incentive Auction/Repack

• Stage 4’s reverse auction component to end 1/13.  Multichannel News  …and…  TVTechnology
• T-Mobile, CCA continue calls for swift spectrum repacking after auction.  Wireless Week

Strategy/Management/Business

• must read  Nielsen Total Audience Report Q3 2016.  Nielsen (download)

Television

• Over-the-air TV resurgence in 2017?  nScreenMedia (video talk)
• Live TV decline slows in Q3; SVOD up.  Rapid TV News

Weekend readings for #pubmedia, 10/22/2016

Here’s this week’s collection of selected links from my @haarsager Twitter feed.  --Dennis

ATSC 3.o/HbbTV/Hybrid TV

• must read  Hybrid TV [ATSC 3.0 in the U.S. –DH] opens big-data window for free-to-air TV.  Rapid TV News
• HbbTV gains strength in Europe as smart TV penetration rises.  Rapid TV News

Cable/MVPD/Pay-TV/Satellite TV/Cord-Cutting

• AT&T to launch DirecTV Now streaming video service before 2017.  CNET

Digital Video/VOD/OTT

• EchoStar/Sling’s AirTV delayed during FCC review.  Zatz Not Funny!  …and…  AirTV expected to blend OTA + OTT.  TVTechnology
• ‘Simultaneous viewing’ may be taking toll on TV ratings.  FierceCable
• Online video leaders’ programming spend exceeds traditional broadcsters.  Rapid TV News
• Public radio stations collaborate to create VuHaus, the non-profit Vevo.  billboard

Radio/Podcasting/Digital Audio

• With its broadened story lab, NPR is looking to build up its next generation of shows and podcasts.  NiemanLab
• Radio and connected cars.  Jacobs Media Strategies

Spectrum/Incentive Auction/Repack

• my blog post  Cycles, daisy chains, and TV spectrum repack and clearing realities.  Technology360
• must read  Destination repack: Not enough time, money.  TVTechnology  …and…  Repack plan draws tepid industry reaction.  TVNewsCheck  …and…  FCC: Post-auction repack planning can’t wait.  Broadcasting & Cable
• Stage 2 of FCC’s incentive auction ends when forward auction component fails after one round.  WirelessWeek  …and… RCR Wireless News  …and…  Broadcasting & Cable  …and…  TVTechnology  …and…  TVNewsCheck  …and…  Quick end to auction’s Stage 2 may mean Comcast threw in the towel. Or it may mean nothing [Verizon and EchoStar have also been named as possible quitters –DH].  FierceWireless  …and…  Blink and you missed it:  Stage 2 of incentive auction ends.  JDSupra

Strategy/Management/Business

• must read  The slow painful death of the media’s cash cow.  Bloomberg  …and…  What if the newspaper industry made a colossal mistake?  Politico
• Internet mysteries: Where does the disappearing ad dollar go?  Digiday
• must read  A broadcaster’s guide to Washington issues.  TVNewsCheck

This week's readings in #pubmedia, 8/31/16

I was on vacation out of the country since mid-August, although still putting up links on Twitter <@haarsager>.  Plus, I just came home to a house full of company, so I’m taking the liberty of being more selective than usual about which of these links to share here.  --Dennis

Digital Media

must read  The looming shakeout in digital media.  Michael Wolff in USA Today

Digital Video/VOD

SVOD in the mainstream, TV Everywhere still in the minority.  nScreenMedia

must read  Study: YouTube and linear TV help each other.  Adweek

Cord-havers are happiest with streaming video services.  Wall Street Journal

New data muddy US home entertainment picture.  nScreenMedia

must read  Why TV content owners should stream on multiple platforms.  The Wrap

Journalism

This is what’s missing from journalism right now.  Mother Jones

Gifted and haunted: Remembering David Carr.  Columbia Journalism Review

Radio/Podcasting

must read  Podcasting, once a niche labor of love,  now can open doors in TV and more.  Adweek

must read  You’d better worry about connected cars.  Jacobs Media Strategies

How important are your HD Radio signals?  Radio World

Radio and the culture shifting audience.  Jacobs Media Strategies

must read  Public radio and millennials.  Jacobs Media Strategies

Spectrum/Incentive Auction/Repacking

Not to anyone’s surprise, the first stage (126 MHz in the reverse auction, 100 MHz in the forward auction) of the FCC’s television incentive auction failed to meet the $88.3B target set up by the results of the reverse auction.  Here are some links:  Multichannel News  …and…  Comm Law Center  …and…  Wiley On Media

My quick take:  In the next stage(s), reverse auction compensation will need to shrink dramatically.  And for each additional stage (assuming they don’t skip a band plan), the forward auction spectrum will be 10 MHz smaller.  Less spectrum doesn’t exactly incent greater forward auction investment.

must read  Repack update.  TVNewsCheck  Part 1  Part 2

The pessimist on the block, Wells Fargo, is starting to seem optimistic.  TVNewsCheck

Television

Nielsen’s TV universe is up by 2 million.  MediaPost

 

Digital Media

must read  The looming shakeout in digital media.  Michael Wolff in USA Today

Digital Video/VOD

SVOD in the mainstream, TV Everywhere still in the minority.  nScreenMedia

must read  Study: YouTube and linear TV help each other.  Adweek

Cord-havers are happiest with streaming video services.  Wall Street Journal

New data muddy US home entertainment picture.  nScreenMedia

must read  Why TV content owners should stream on multiple platforms.  The Wrap

Journalism

This is what’s missing from journalism right now.  Mother Jones

Gifted and haunted: Remembering David Carr.  Columbia Journalism Review

Radio/Podcasting

must read  Podcasting, once a niche labor of love,  now can open doors in TV and more.  Adweek

must read  You’d better worry about connected cars.  Jacobs Media Strategies

How important are your HD Radio signals?  Radio World

Radio and the culture shifting audience.  Jacobs Media Strategies

must read  Public radio and millennials.  Jacobs Media Strategies

Spectrum/Incentive Auction/Repacking

Not to anyone’s surprise, the first stage (126 MHz in the reverse auction, 100 MHz in the forward auction) of the FCC’s television incentive auction failed to meet the $88.3B target set up by the results of the reverse auction.  Here are some links:  Multichannel News  …and…  Comm Law Center  …and…  Wiley On Media

My quick take:  In the next stage(s), reverse auction compensation will need to shrink dramatically.  And for each additional stage (assuming they don’t skip a band plan), the forward auction spectrum will be 10 MHz smaller.  Less spectrum doesn’t exactly incent greater forward auction investment.

must read  Repack update.  TVNewsCheck  Part 1  Part 2

The pessimist on the block, Wells Fargo, is starting to seem optimistic.  TVNewsCheck

Television

Nielsen’s TV universe is up by 2 million.  MediaPost

Digital Media

must read  The looming shakeout in digital media.  Michael Wolff in USA Today

Digital Video/VOD

SVOD in the mainstream, TV Everywhere still in the minority.  nScreenMedia

must read  Study: YouTube and linear TV help each other.  Adweek

Cord-havers are happiest with streaming video services.  Wall Street Journal

New data muddy US home entertainment picture.  nScreenMedia

must read  Why TV content owners should stream on multiple platforms.  The Wrap

Journalism

This is what’s missing from journalism right now.  Mother Jones

Gifted and haunted: Remembering David Carr.  Columbia Journalism Review

Radio/Podcasting

must read  Podcasting, once a niche labor of love,  now can open doors in TV and more.  Adweek

must read  You’d better worry about connected cars.  Jacobs Media Strategies

How important are your HD Radio signals?  Radio World

Radio and the culture shifting audience.  Jacobs Media Strategies

must read  Public radio and millennials.  Jacobs Media Strategies

Spectrum/Incentive Auction/Repacking

Not to anyone’s surprise, the first stage (126 MHz in the reverse auction, 100 MHz in the forward auction) of the FCC’s television incentive auction failed to meet the $88.3B target set up by the results of the reverse auction.  Here are some links:  Multichannel News  …and…  Comm Law Center  …and…  Wiley On Media

My quick take:  In the next stage(s), reverse auction compensation will need to shrink dramatically.  And for each additional stage (assuming they don’t skip a band plan), the forward auction spectrum will be 10 MHz smaller.  Less spectrum doesn’t exactly incent greater forward auction investment.

must read  Repack update.  TVNewsCheck  Part 1  Part 2

The pessimist on the block, Wells Fargo, is starting to seem optimistic.  TVNewsCheck

Television

Nielsen’s TV universe is up by 2 million.  MediaPost

Weekend readings for #pubmedia, Aug. 13, 2016

Here is another collection of selected readings from my Twitter feed.  I’m traveling in Scotland and Norway from this afternoon through almost the end of the month, so I will probably be unable to post for the next two weekends.  I’ll keep putting up links on Twitter, though, so to keep current, visit http://www.twitter.com/haarsager.  --Dennis

Cable/Pay-TV/Cord-cutting

Here’s more grim news on cord-cutting.  Media Life Magazine  …but also…  Cord-cutting remained modest in Q2 ‘16, as cable operators continue to gain.  VideoNuze

Promising next ten years for U.S. cable industry but video fears persist.  Rapid TV News

Google vs. the cable guys: The big fight over the little set-topo box in your home.  CNN Money

Digital Video/VOD

SVOD popularity poses broadcast possibilities.  TVTechnology

Hulu to axe its free tier.  Rapid TV News  …and…  Five reasons why Hulu shouldn’t dump free TV.  nScreenMedia

Journalism

must read  John Oliver’s right – journalism is in danger, and here’s why that matters.  The Guardian  …and…  After John Oliver, the you-get-what-you-pay-for imperative has never been cleare.r.  Ken Doctor in Nieman Lab

Trump and the limits of data journalism.  Vanity Fair

must read  News is afflicted by its own climate change.  It’s called social.  Monday Note

Radio

Ford adds dual receivers for FM and HD Radio in several 2017 models.  Radio Magazine

NPR, stations credit audience gains to a range of factors.  Current

How big is your audience?  Jacobs Media Strategies

Spectrum/Incentive Auction

FCC preps bidders for Tuesday’s TV forward auction.  TVTechnology

AT&T CFO: Our 40 MHz of unused spectrum will ‘dramatically improve our capacity’.  FierceWireless

‘Auction postponement of hiccups could make Dish one of few near-term sources of spectrum.  Investors.com

Strategy/Management/Business

must read  Sorry, digital media kids, ‘old media’ are going to eat you.  Digiday

must read  How TV stations can mine digital media.  Mary Collins in TVNewsCheck

WBUR’s BizLab begins testing innovations for public radio.  Current

Monday readings for #pubmedia, 5/23/16

Here is another collection of selected links from my @haarsager Twitter account.  --Dennis

ATSC 3.0/HbbTV

must read (of course)  My take on ATSC 3.0 for #pubmedia.  Yours truly in Technology360  …or…  Current

Broadcasting killed the internet star.  Radio

Cable/Satellite TV/MVPD/Pay-TV

U.S. pay-tv sees continued decline with Q1 subscriber drain.  Rapid TV News  …but…  Cable, satellite shine as subs inch up for U.S. pay-TV leaders.  Rapid TV News

Pay-TV can use their aggregator position to take on OTT.  Rapid TV News

Consumer Electronics

Smart TVs surge in North America.  Rapid TV News
must read  Virtuous cycle driving connected TV growth.  nScreenMedia

4K: A lone bright spot in STB market.  Rapid TV News

Over-the-air antennas are making a comeback.  Vice

Digital Video/OTT

Understanding the value of platforms given the proliferation of content.  Video Nuze [video]

Six steps for OTT success.  TV News Check

Management/Strategy

must read  Fossilized culture, not lack of funding, put news media on deathwatch.  Monday Note

Radio/Digital Audio/Podcasting

Pandora for sale?  Jacobs Media Strategies

must read  PRX launches RadioPublic, a company that aims to redefine audio with a new app.  Poynter  …and…  With RadioPublic, these podcasting pioneers plan to reinvent the medium.  Fast Company  …and… PRX announces spinoff company for new mobile listening platform.  Current

must read  NPR One is getting serious about the promise of new digital audiences for local journalism.  Nieman Lab

Digital audio continues to boast impressive growth in the U.S.: Stats.  Econsultancy

Spectrum/Incentive Auction

T-Mobile: We’ll have handsets ready to leverage incentive auction spectrum in 2017.  FierceWireless  …and…  T-Mobile says that it could start deploying spectrum from 600-MHz auction in 2017.  TMO News

Wells Fargo: High-band spectrum ‘becoming more of a focus’ heading into auction of 600-MHz spectrum.  FierceWireless

Television

must read  The business of too much TV.  Vulture

must read  TV’s new normal: How shorter runs, fewer episodes are revitalizing primetime.  Variety